This is an in-person meeting. All participating Board members will be at our public meeting location. The Board offers the public the courtesy of participating online from nonpublic locations. If the online audio or video stops working, the in-person meeting will keep going. To learn how to join online, go to https://boe.hawaii.gov/participate-virtually/.
STATE OF HAWAIʻI
BOARD OF EDUCATION - PAPA HOʻONAʻAUAO
GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING
MEMBERS
Roy M. Takumi, Chairperson
Bill Arakaki, Vice Chairperson
Elynne Chung Kahele Dukelow Mary Hattori
Ken Kuraya Sylvia Lee Wesley Lo Makana McClellan
NOTICE OF MEETING
Thursday, April 9, 2026
1:30 p.m.
Public Meeting Location
Queen Liliʻuokalani Building
1390 Miller Street, Room 404
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96813
Courtesy Virtual Meeting Information
Register to join the WebEx meeting online:
https://hidoe-events.webex.com/weblink/register/r5b33a10e21b9001445b59dac2667668b
Webinar number: 2557 036 7299
Webinar password: joinmeeting (56466338 when dialing in from a phone or video system)
Join by phone:
1-844-992-4726 United States Toll Free
Access Code: 2557 036 7299
Attendee ID Number: #
AGENDA
The Board will accept public testimony with each agenda item.
List of documents distributed to Board members before the meeting
Written testimony:
4/6/26 packet
4/9/26 packet
- Call to order
- Approval of meeting minutes of February 12, 2026, General Business meeting
- “Ed Talk Story” with Aliamanu Middle School: Taking new opportunities…Design thinking AI challenge
- Oral report of the Student Representative and Mr. Ian House, North Carolina State Board of Education Student Advisor, on youth efforts for stakeholder engagement (related materials)
- Report of the Superintendent
- Department of Education update on organizational alignment initiative
- Action on School Community Council waivers - Round 2
- Student Achievement Committee oral report on March 12, 2026, meeting
- Finance and Infrastructure Committee oral report on March 12, 2026, meeting
- Audit Committee oral report on March 19, 2026, meeting
- Oral report on events attended by Board members, March 2026
- Adjournment
A. Updates on 2026 legislative session
HB1800 Relating to the state budget
Adjusts and requests appropriations for fiscal biennium 2025-2027 funding requirements for operations and capital improvement projects of Executive Branch agencies and programs. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
HB2293 Relating to harm to students registry
Clarifies the scope of the Department of Education's harm to students registry by excluding K-12 students and by providing that contractors and volunteers are included only if their roles involves interaction with students. Effective 7/31/2055. (SD1)
HB2296 Relating to school meals
Requires the Department of Education to charge not less than one-quarter of the cost of preparing a school meal for each school meal. Effective 7/31/2055. (SD1)
HB2297 Relating to education
Updates Hawaii’s statutory framework for adult and community education programs to ensure alignment with federal funding requirements and current best practices in those programs. Effective 7/31/2055. (SD1)
SB2614 Relating to education
Authorizes the Department of Education to award a high school diploma to qualified persons who did not receive a high school diploma as a result of compulsory or voluntary induction into the armed services of the United States or whose high school education was interrupted due to wartime practices during World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. (HD2)
HB1840 Relating to education
Requires the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to develop an alternative pathway for a visiting international educator permit aligned to the duration of the educator’s J-1 visa program. Permits the Department of Education and charter schools to hire unlicensed individuals as teachers on an emergency basis for five, rather than three, years. Requires HTSB to extend the five-year period in the case of a declared state of emergency. Requires the Department of Education to provide support to assist emergency hires in meeting the requirements of licensure and require the training be mandatory for emergency hires in their fourth and fifth years. Effective 7/31/2055. (SD1)
SB2125 Relating to teacher licensing
Permits the Department of Education to hire unlicensed individuals as teachers on an emergency basis for five, rather than three, years. Requires that unlicensed teachers hired on an emergency basis make continuous and verifiable progress toward satisfying licensing requirements. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
HB2345 Relating to school facilities
Requires the School Facilities Authority to establish geographically based capital improvement project districts for the localized management of deferred maintenance. Transfers all deferred maintenance functions, funds, and vacant Facilities Development Branch positions from the Department of Education to the School Facilities Authority. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/31/2055. (SD1)
SB2550 Relating to school modernization
Requires the School Facilities Authority to establish a school modernization initiative through a capital improvement project planning database for school facilities statewide. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
HB2300 Relating to Department of Education procurement
Adjusts the applicability of Act 134, SLH 2025, to clarify the threshold for Department of Education procurement of local edible produce and packaged food products. Prohibits the artificial division and parceling of DOE procurements of local edible produce and packaged food products. Sunsets 6/30/2028. Effective 7/31/2055. (SD1)
B. Update on Kona Low storm damage
C. Awards and recognitions for students, employees, and schools
The meeting agenda and materials are online on the Board’s website here: https://boe.hawaii.gov/agendas/. To get on the mailing list, visit the Board’s website here: https://boe.hawaii.gov/.
The Board offers a live broadcast of its meetings as a courtesy to the public. You can find instructions for joining the live broadcast here: https://boe.hawaii.gov/participate-virtually/.
If you need special assistance or an auxiliary aid/service to participate in this meeting (like a sign interpreter, interpreter for a language other than English, or wheelchair accessibility), contact Board office staff at (808) 586-3334 and/or BOE.Hawaii@boe.hawaii.gov. Contact us as soon as possible, but preferably at least three days before the meeting. Requests made early are more likely to be fulfilled.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Under Hawaiʻi’s Sunshine Law (chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes), all testimony, both written and spoken, must be about an item on the agenda.
Written Testimony
The Board accepts written testimony on any agenda item. We strongly encourage this as the primary way to submit testimony.
All testimony is posted publicly and permanently on the Board’s website, and referenced in meeting minutes. Remove or block out any personal information you do not want posted (like your name, email, phone number, or picture).
You can submit written testimony:
- Online using the appropriate form here: https://boe.hawaii.gov/submit-testimony/. Fill out one form for each agenda item you want to comment on; or
- By mail to: Hawaiʻi State Board of Education, P.O. Box 2360, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96804.
Written testimony received more than three business days before the meeting will be sent to Board members and posted on the website's meeting agenda. Written testimony received after this time but before the meeting will also be posted on the website’s meeting agenda by the start of the meeting. Any written testimony received after the last posting of testimony before the meeting and up until 11:59 p.m. of the meeting day will be posted as late testimony.
Oral Testimony
The Board accepts oral testimony in person and as a courtesy, also online. To sign up to testify either in person or online, fill out the appropriate form here: https://boe.hawaii.gov/submit-testimony/. Fill out one form for each agenda item you want to testify on.
- For in-person testimony: Come to the table when your name is called.
- For online testimony:
- You must register and log in to the WebEx meeting online using the details in the meeting agenda. Use the exact same name, including any alias, you used on the sign-up form. We cannot call on you if you use a different name.
- All testifiers must use their computer audio to participate. We cannot call on you if you call in only by phone. Test your speakers and microphone beforehand to make sure they work.
- During the meeting, your microphone should be muted until it is your turn to testify. When your name is called, a message will appear asking you to unmute. If we cannot hear you, we will call the next testifier.
- For remote meetings, a message will also appear asking you to turn on your camera. If you wish to be on camera, turn on the camera. Test your camera beforehand to make sure it works.
- We may turn off a participant's audio or video if needed.
- For detailed steps on how to join online, go to https://boe.hawaii.gov/participate-virtually/.
Board office staff will call on testifiers by agenda item. You can only testify on an agenda item once, even if you signed up multiple times for the same item. When it is your turn to testify, say your name, organization, and position if you have one, and the agenda item you are speaking on.
Each person has three minutes to testify, but the chairperson may change this time. You will hear a single bell when you have 30 seconds left. You will hear a double bell when your time is over, and your microphone may be automatically muted. Testifiers cannot give their time to other people.
Upon request, this notice is available in alternate/accessible formats.
_____________________________________
Roy M. Takumi, Board Chairperson
Board Office • boe.hawaii.gov • boe.hawaii@boe.hawaii.gov • (808)586-3334
1390 Miller Street, Room 405, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96813